Good morning gamers,
We're back in Legion land and we're looking at what was the second most popular non-Commander/Operative Republic unit (before Clone Commandos were released): the ARC Trooper. If you're playing the 501st Legion, chances are good you have a LOT of these guys in your list and if you're running a generic GAR list, chances are good that you have at least a one of these guys running around (but if you choose three Clone Commandos instead of two, you might not have any). At the time of this writing, ARC Troopers are the only GAR Special Forces unit with the Clone Trooper unit type (and only compete with Wookiee Warriors for the Special Forces slot - more on them later in this series), so if you're not running excess Corps units, don't want to run three Clone Commandos, and you want another Clone Trooper squad . . . these are really your only option. Let's see what the ARC Trooper profiles (yes, two of them) give us - and what they have going for them that sets them apart from your excellent Corps options.
ARC Troopers: The Profiles
It's probably good to begin by comparing ARC Troopers to Phase I Clone Troopers. Both squads have 4 models to start with, both have 1 wound/model, Speed 2 with a red defense die, and can roll 1 black die at range 1-3. Without any offensive or defensive surges (or innate ways to get surge tokens - more on this, though, in the next section) and many of the same upgrade slots (Heavy Weapon, Gear, Grenades), I was certainly tempted to think that Phase Is were just better to get than these guys when I got started playing.
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| I usually just take the Heavy Weapon options on these guys - and Recon Intel/Smoke Grenades if I can fit it . . . Photo Credit: Legion HQ |
But this brings us into the differences between the two squad types - we'll start with the positives for Phase Is. The only upgrade slot that a Phase I Clone Trooper squad has that ARC Troopers lack is the Personnel slot, which means that a fully-manned Corps squad will have 6 models while a fully-manned ARC Troopers squad will have 5 models (or two models, as we'll see shortly). The extra wound is quite valuable, epsecially since that slot happens to be a personnel unit, which means it could have the option to heal friendly units with a Clone Medic/Engineer or pick up a Training/Comms/second gear slot from a Clone Captain/Comms Tech/Specialist respectively (all of which are on ARC Troopers).
Phase Is also have Fire Support, which is something we spent a LOT of time talking about in our last post. The TL;DR on that is that Fire Support allows a GAR player to provide an overwhelming number of dice when attacking, which can compensate for strong cover saves, multi-wound models, units with more than 6 models in them, and even the Armor keyword (especially if an RPS-6 or a DC-15 is in the attack pool). Fire Support is one of the things that makes GAR gunlines so powerful - and its a distinctive of their Corps units.
But for Fire Support to work, you really need a unit to key up the attack - and while you can certainly do that with a Phase I unit, ARC Troopers provide some really handy special rules to improve your damage output. To start with, while an ARC Trooper can certainly shoot at range 3, if they can get within range 2 (just barely, mind you), each non-Heavy-Weapon ARC Trooper will be rolling 1 black/1 white, which means a fully-manned ARC Trooper squad will be rolling 4 black/4 white plus either 2 red or 1 red/1 black from their Heavy Weapons (more on that in a bit) BEFORE you throw in the dice from the Fire Support. If a full Z-6 squad is in range of the target of a full ARC squad with its generic Heavy Weapon trooper (that is sitting at range 1-2), the attack pool will have (wait for it) 1 red/10 black/10 white - that's 21 dice and an expected 5.625 hits and 2.625 crits, for a total expected damage of 8.25 successes . . . that can wipe a squad really easily if their saves are bad.
But it gets better, because ARC Troopers have both Tactical 1 (which gives them an aim token when they perform a move action) and Sharpshooter 1 (which reduces enemy cover by 1). This means they'll either be rerolling two blanks on the previous roll (probably adding 1 additional damage if they're rerolling 2 black dice) OR they'll be triggering Lethal 1 (which will add Pierce 1 to the attack - which is DEATH against white dice saves).
There are other differences between ARCs and Phase Is that are more subtle (and honestly don't make much of a difference) - they have Scout 2, which is great for beginning of the game positioning (and it's a Speed-2 standard move, so Tactical 1 is triggered at the start of the game), they have Courage 2, which makes them harder to suppress/panic than Phase Is (unless, of course, the Phase Is are using Fire Support), and they have 1 black/1 white in melee instead of just 1 black . . . and honestly, if these guys are getting into melee, it's probably not going great for them. I've already mentioned that ARCs have three upgrade slots that Phase Is don't have (Training, Comms, and a second Gear slot), but any one of these slots could be on your Phase Is if you take a Clone Captain, Comms Tech, or Specialist.
The last distinctives of ARCs and Phase Is has to do with cost and the Impervious special rule - both of which I think have nuanced benefits. A Phase I Clone Trooper squad with no upgrades is 52 points, while an ARC Trooper squad is 66 points - which basically works out to ARCs being 3.5pts/model more expensive than Phase Is. However, if you're filling both the Heavy Weapon and Personnel slots in a Phase I unit, this usually shrinks to about 2pts/model more (a Phase I Clone Trooper with Z-6 and Medic is 89 points, compared to a full ARC squad with a DC-15X at 97 points). If you're paying 2pts more per model to pick up Tactical 1 and Sharpshooter 1, I think that's a fair deal. Admittedly, the Phase I squad will have 6 wounds instead of 5 wounds, which leads us to the Impervious keyword.
Impervious is . . . tricky to evaluate. Like the Danger Sense keyword, Impervious gives you additional defense dice based on the Pierce value of the enemy attack - which is great if your opponent has leaned into Pierce, but generally means that you'll be rolling 0-2 additional dice on an attack. Make no mistake, getting extra dice when you know you're going to lose block icons is really good, but in order for Impervious to really work for you, you have to get ALL block results. Anything short of that and you're still taking damage - perhaps 1 or 2 less than you would have, but Clones especially really don't want to take hits. While I'd definitely say this is a plus, I don't think it should really be viewed as a particularly strong bonus in the favor of ARCs when comparing them to Phase Is.
The final thing we need to talk about are ARC Trooper Strike Teams. Each of the four major factions has one Special Forces unit (at the moment) that can be fielded as a Strike team (Rebel Commandos, Scout Troopers, BX Series Droid Commandos, and ARC Troopers) and a Strike team is a single mini that has the exact same upgrade slots as its "full" version, but adds the Heavy Weapon Team keyword, which requires you to add a Heavy Weapon upgrade to the unit. Honestly, you were probably adding the Heavy Weapon upgrade anyway, but the fact that you start with only 1 model in the unit means you're paying a fraction of the price of the full squad while still getting access to the Heavy Weapon.
There are two bonuses for this, specifc to ARC Troopers (we'll hit Rebel Commandos and possibly the others later in this series): first, an ARC Trooper Strike Team costs 42 points less than a full ARC Trooper squad - that means that you can run 2 Strike Teams and a Phase I squad for the same cost as 2 full ARC squads, which isn't nothing. The ARC Strike Teams are down 6 bodies when compared to the two full ARC squads, but they make up the body count with the Corps unit they can bring along. As such, I'm not sure that there's a strong argument either way about which is better - full ARCs vs. Strike Teams with additional Corps - but if you don't want two-man squads (which can theoretically be picked off at a distance), feel free to favor the full ARCs . . . and if you want 3 activations instead of 2, pick the Strike Teams.
Secondly, the Heavy Weapon Team keyword makes the Heavy Weapon mini the unit leader, which would only be the case in a full ARC squad if the Heavy Weapon mini has the Leader keyword (more on that next). This is a far more situational bonus - and really only applies if the Strike Team has the DC-15X ARC Trooper instead of their other Heavy Weapon options - but it's a bonus nevertheless.
Okay, let's talk about the upgrades you can take on these guys . . .
Phase I Clone Troopers: Recommended Upgrades
Heavy Weapon
By far and away, the most popular and valuable - and sometimes required - upgrade on an ARC Trooper squad is the Heavy Weapon upgrade. Here we have three choices: Echo, Fives, and the generic DC-15X ARC Trooper. We talked about Fives last time - and honestly, I only put him in Phase I squads - but he'll allow you to coordinate with other Clone Troopers (which means you can run his ARCs side by side with their assigned Fire Support unit of Phase Is if you like), gives the unit Courage 3 (which is SUPER nice and basically makes it so you won't be suppressed all game), and has the Leader keyword so that he's the last one to die. With an extra wound, Fives isn't bad - though I think making a Phase I squad Courage 2 (and having 2 orders on Fire Support units) is better than making an ARC squad Courage 3 (and having them start with an order).
Echo got a bit of a bad review last time because he doesn't synergize very well with Phase Is - but he's clearly a great option for running in an ARC squad! With Reliable 1, he makes sure that your more expensive Clone squad can convert its first surge die (on offense or defense) into a success, his Critical 1 helps you convert yet another surge die to a crit result, and Lethal 1 on his 2 red attack pool benefits greatly from Tactical 1 (which gives you the required aim token to trigger Lethal 1) and Sharpshooter 1 (which makes those successful red dice still more likely to succeed in dealing damage). His extra wound, Immunity to Deflect, and the Leader keyword are just gravy - really nice adds to any ARC squad. At 42 points, Echo's a bit pricey, but he brings a lot to the table.
But this brings us to the humble DC-15X ARC Trooper - he's only 31 points (9 points less than Fives and 11 points less than Echo) and is very similar to Echo. He doesn't have Critical 1, but he does have Lethal 1 and Immune: Deflect, which is nice. He's also got range 5 with 1 red/1 black (instead of range 5 with 2 red), which is not as good, but also not bad. There's no Reliable on this guy, no Leader keyword (which only matters in a full ARC squad), and he's only got 1 wound - but if you don't have 11 points for Echo, he'll do much the same work. If you do have the points, though, get Echo.
Training
The training options available to ARC Troopers are many, but which ones are good very much depends on whether you're running full ARCs or Strike Teams - and whether you plan to get within range 2 of the enemy or stay back and shoot with your range 5 Heavy Weapon pools (and trigger Fire Support to make up for your reduced dice count). If you're playing the sit-back-and-shoot game, Duck and Cover is pretty good, since you can take a suppression token to increase your cover, thereby keeping yourself alive a little longer. This is particularly good for Strike Teams, since a single errant wound can cause big problems for the squad. Additionally, if your plan is to have the Strike team work down enemy heroes (or if you're afraid of marauding Wookiees), Hunter is a great option (since you can have 2 aim tokens - one for Lethal and one for a reroll). Finally, if you're supporting a gunline and are likely to be near a dodge token machine (like Padme, Anakin, or Yoda), Situational Awareness is always a good option - and particularly so if you know you're going to find heavy cover to tuck these guys behind (though at 4pts/squad, you may not have the points lying around).
If you're looking for a more aggressive, close-up squad, Into the Fray is a nice way to get additional surge tokens on these guys, while Up Close and Personal is a great way to generate dodge tokens for yourself once you're at range 2 (which a rushing full ARC squad probably wants to be). You could get Offensive Push as well, but I generally don't perform recover actions with these guys, so that would be a pretty expensive one-time boost.
While any of these can be good, I often view the training slot on these guys to be an "if I have points" slot to fill - GAR units are expensive and picking up two copies of Situational Awareness might cost me a body in one of my Corps squads. Could it be game-altering? Sure. Do I need it all the time? Sometimes I need the extra body. It's all a trade - but this definitely does not appear to have a clear-cut answer to me.
Comms
These upgrades are purely optional, and honestly I think there's only one that's really worth taking - the Emergency Transponder. This is a once-per-game, 4pt upgrade that gives you 1 aim or dodge token or allows you to remove a suppression token if you drew your order token from your order pool. While this isn't great on Phase Is (you generally want them to be issued orders to allow them to use Fire Support), it's pretty great on ARCs - especially since it gives you the flexibility of using it offensively (for more aim tokens - which can be borrowed by a nearby Clone Trooper) or defensively (for more dodge tokens - which can also be borrowed by a nearby Clone Trooper). I don't fill this slot . . . like . . . ever. Theoretically, a Hacked Comms Unit or a Comms Jammer would be really handy, but you need to be at range 1 - and I think most opposing players would be tempted to dive into melee with this unit if they're that close, so I wouldn't risk it.
Gear x2
Both of these are optional slots, but if I have a few points lying around, I usually give these guys Recon Intel, since it turns their starting Scout 2 into Scout 3. If you include Advanced Positions in your battle deck (or if you're using your opponent's battle deck and they included it), you don't NEED Recon Intel, but if you play anything else, it can be really handy for getting these guys in a slightly better position. It's also only necessary if you intend to rush up to the enemy and hit them from range 2 - if you're playing the poke-at-them-from-range-5 game, you don't need this.
ARCs have a unique gear option in the JT-12 Jetpacks, which for 10 points gives them some incredible mobility over intervening terrain, but since this jetpack upgrade doesn't increase them to speed 3 (like you get from the Mando's Jetpack), I don't take it - ARCs are already really expensive, so tacking on 10 points just doesn't seem worth it to me. If I wanted to spend 10 points on Gear upgrades, I'd be far more tempted to take two copies of Prepared Supplies for your army or two copies of Targeting Scopes and one copy of Recon Intel.
Grenades
Like we talked about last time, there really aren't that many grenade options that you want on these guys - the Fragmentation Grenade we mentioned last time is going to do about the same amount of damage as your 1 black/1 white, so I don't usually get those on these guys. The Smoke Grenades are awesome and great for keeping a Strike Team alive (especially if you set up the smoke blocker after you've shot - you know, to prevent reprisals). Two Strike Teams with DC-15Xs and Smoke Grenades are only 58 points each, so they're very affordable and can avoid being punished by the enemy if they're tucked in the back and shooting.
Okay, let's look at a list and wrap things up!
ARC Troopers: Sample List and Strategy
You can view the list on Legion HQ here, but here's the makeup of the 796-point/8 activation list:
- Obi-Wan Kenobi with Force Barrier, Battle Meditation, and Protector
- Padme Amidala with Seize the Initiative
- Phase I Clone Troopers with Clone Medic and RPS-6 Trooper
- Phase I Clone Troopers with Clone Medic and Z-6 Trooper x2
- ARC Trooper Strike Team with DC-15X Trooper
- Clone Commandos with Katarn Pattern Armor, HQ Uplink, and config
- Delta Squad with Katarn Pattern Armor, HQ Uplink, and config
This list uses the Strike Team in a really interesting way: as an aim battery for the team! The Strike Team may not have a lot of dice (and would be far better at sniping if it were Echo), but if it double moves behind cover, it will provide two aim tokens that can be borrowed by the Z-6 squads. When paired with Padme, you shouldn't have an issue converting blank dice to hits.
The rest of the army is designed to attract attention - three Medics should keep Kenobi and the Commandos healthy, while Z-6s and an RPS-6 can help them wipe out enemy squads. All told, it's really quite the package - and it hits very, very hard. Sadly, however, if you want a third squad of Commandos, you're probably downgrading Delta Squad and swapping the ARC Strike Team for the third squad. Is the Strike Team (and the bonuses you get from Delta Squad) better? Maybe.
ARC Troopers: Final Review
ARC Troopers are really cool and are excellent initiators of Fire Support - and it's easily defensible to say that they're the best initiators of Fire Support in a GAR list (though we'll see if this is actually true later in this series). If you're playing the 501st Legion, these guys are basically all you have (besides Phase II Clones and some vehicles) - and you have to take a unit of full ARCs for each Strike Team you want to take, so if you're choosing to run that battle force, you'd better get used to having these guys around.
Overall character review: 4.5/5 stars. I took a half-star off because putting these guys together is a bit finnicky (especially the guys on the jetpack stands), but they look nice and they mostly play well on the table (though I have a lot to learn about keeping them alive). I'm a bigger fan of full ARCs than Strike Teams, but both have value on the table and I often include a mix of both.
In our next post, we'll be reviewing one of my favorite heroes in the GAR faction: the Clone Commander. This guy is a generic hero who isn't particularly healthy and doesn't hit very hard in melee or at range - but he's cheap, he provides some very helpful auric benefits for your team, and I like him a lot. Find out what he brings to the table next time - until then, happy hobbying!
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